Felipe Camargo Turned Down 'Tropa de Elite' Colonel Role

Written by Adriano Ladislau in Movies

Published on November 15, 2026 11:44 UTC · Updated on November 15, 2026 11:46 UTC

Screenwriter Rodrigo Pimentel said Felipe Camargo auditioned and trained for two weeks before quitting the corrupt colonel part in 'Tropa de Elite'.

Felipe Camargo, 66, nearly played the corrupt colonel in “Tropa de Elite” (Elite Squad). The actor was invited for the part, auditioned and even joined the cast training for “one or two weeks” before walking away, according to screenwriter and former BOPE captain Rodrigo Pimentel. The revelation was made on the podcast “Papo de Elite” and reported by Extra on November 14, 2026, almost 20 years after the release of José Padilha’s film.

According to Pimentel, the invitation came from a suggestion by casting coach Fátima Toledo to the director. Camargo said he had another professional offer and left the project while it was still in pre-production. The character, Colonel Otávio, ended up with Marcello Escorel and became one of the central pieces in the film’s critique of police corruption.

The story helps explain how a Brazilian classic is built out of choices, refusals and accidents — not only out of the cast that appears on screen. It also sheds light on a specific moment in the career of an actor who, in 2006, was a synonym for soap-opera heartthrob and was trying to reorganise his path away from the roles that had made him famous.

Who is Felipe Camargo, the heartthrob who said no to BOPE

Luiz Felipe de Camargo e Almeida Neto was born in Rio de Janeiro on August 1, 1960, and reached television in 1986, at 25, as the lead of the miniseries “Anos Dourados”, by Gilberto Braga. As Marcos, the romantic partner of Lurdinha (Malu Mader), he became a pop phenomenon before lining up a string of roles that established him as one of the most recognisable faces of Brazilian drama.

That same year he played Pedro in “Roda de Fogo”. In 1987 he was Édipo in “Mandala”, the novela where he met Vera Fischer, whom he married and with whom he had his son Gabriel. Then came “O Sexo dos Anjos” (1989), “Despedida de Solteiro” (1992) and “Pátria Minha” (1994), plus a stint at Band in “Paixões Proibidas” (2006) — precisely the period when “Tropa de Elite” was being prepared.

His trajectory had ups and downs. In the 1990s the actor struggled with substance addiction and saw his career lose momentum. He returned in 2009, invited by Fernando Meirelles for the miniseries “Som & Fúria”, and reclaimed leading parts in “Cordel Encantado” (2011), “Amor Eterno Amor” (2012), “Sangue Bom” (2013), “Além do Tempo” (2015), “Novo Mundo” (2017) and “Espelho da Vida” (2018).

On the big screen he starred in “O Juízo” (2019), by Andrucha Waddington, alongside Fernanda Montenegro. In recent years he has moved to streaming, with “De Volta aos 15” (Netflix), “Santo Maldito” (Disney+) and “Dias Perfeitos” (Globoplay). In recent interviews he speaks openly about his sobriety, which reached 27 years in 2023.

The colonel who ended up with another actor

In the “Tropa de Elite” script, Colonel Otávio sits at the top of the corruption chain inside the regular battalion. He takes a share of the “arrego” collected from illegal lottery operators and protects Captain Oliveira (Marcelo Valle), the officer who seizes Captain Fábio’s schemes (Milhem Cortaz) and sets off part of the conflict that pushes Neto (Caio Junqueira) and Matias (André Ramiro) towards the BOPE course.

It is a small part in screen time and a large one in narrative function: the colonel proves that the violence the film denounces is not only in drug trafficking but inside the police hierarchy itself. For an actor looking for cinematic prestige, it was a chance to play the rotten link in a machine — a villain in a suit, not with a rifle.

The character went to Marcello Escorel, a name the production keeps on the film’s official credits alongside Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira, Milhem Cortaz, Fernanda Machado, André Di Mauro, Paulo Vilela and Fábio Lago. Pimentel does not detail the final choice: he only mentions the invitation, the auditions and Camargo’s departure.

Why Fátima Toledo suggested his name

Fátima Toledo is one of the most influential — and most controversial — casting coaches in Brazilian cinema. She worked on “Pixote” (1981) and rose to prominence with “City of God” (2002), always with a method that mixes physical exercises, psychological pressure and body techniques. On “Tropa de Elite” she was responsible for a cast that ranged from Wagner Moura, already known on TV, to newcomer André Ramiro, a former cinema doorman.

In an interview with O Globo in October 2007, she summed up her method in a line that became a trademark: “I destroy actors. It’s like this: either they strip down or they quit.” Preparation for the film lasted three months, combining her work with training led by former BOPE officer Paulo Storani, who simulated the special operations course and subjected the cast to physical punishment, shouting and the so-called “tactical tank”.

That context makes the suggestion of Felipe Camargo logical. Toledo knew the repertoire of television actors and saw in them raw material for authority roles. Pimentel says it was she who put the name to José Padilha — and that the actor accepted, auditioned and dived into preparation before changing his mind. Camargo’s time in training, according to the screenwriter, lasted “one or two weeks”.

Pimentel’s account, in full

“We invited Felipe Camargo to do ‘Tropa de elite’. He came, he auditioned, but then he gave up. He didn’t want to do it. Felipe was going to play the corrupt colonel. It was going to be really cool. He even took part in the actors’ training. The person who recommended him was Fátima Toledo. She suggested Felipe’s name to José Padilha. He stayed with us for one or two weeks, and then said he had another offer. He didn’t understand the dimension of that. It was a very good role.”

Pimentel is not a secondary source on “Tropa de Elite”. A former BOPE captain, he co-wrote the screenplay with José Padilha and Bráulio Mantovani and is one of the authors of the book “Elite da Tropa”, the basis for the film, alongside André Batista and Luiz Eduardo Soares. He also inspired Captain Nascimento — a character he insists on describing as entirely fictional, though built from real situations inside the force.

The “Papo de Elite” podcast is where he revisits his years in the battalion and comments on public security. The statement about Camargo was published on November 14 and quickly became a talking point for a simple reason: until then, the backstage story had never been told in this form, with a name, a role and the length of the actor’s stay in the project.

An accident in a film that became a phenomenon

“Tropa de Elite” reached cinemas on October 12, 2007, after a Rio premiere in August. The film had leaked on DVD before release, which led the production to re-edit it, add about five minutes of footage and record a new narration — a decision that helped turn the bootleg into one of the biggest box-office phenomena in Brazilian cinema.

The film drew almost three million spectators and won the Golden Bear for best picture at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, a rare feat for a Brazilian action production. The sequel, “Tropa de Elite 2: O Inimigo Agora É Outro” (2010), did even better: 11.14 million admissions and the title of biggest box office in Brazilian film history.

What the refusal says about casting

Pimentel’s assessment — “he didn’t understand the dimension of that” — is a later reading, made with the benefit of almost two decades of hindsight. In 2006, “Tropa de Elite” was the first fiction feature by a director known for documentaries, with a budget of 10.5 million reais and a subject that divided opinion even before release. There was no guarantee of a phenomenon.

For an actor with an established television career, trading weeks of intense preparation for a supporting role in a risky police film was a gamble. Camargo had commitments on TV and in the theatre at the time and had just moved to Band. The “other offer” mentioned by Pimentel was never detailed publicly. As of the publication of this article, the actor had not commented publicly on the account.

The episode also highlights a hierarchy that has changed. In the early 2000s, the border between television and cinema was still treated with a certain prejudice on both sides; today, actors move between streaming, telenovelas and features with ease. Camargo’s refusal, seen in perspective, looks less like a misjudgement and more like a portrait of a period when Brazilian cinema still had to prove it could be pop without ceasing to be political.

Where to watch it, and what remains of this story

Almost 20 years later, the franchise is still available — but the two films sit on different platforms. The first is on Netflix, Prime Video and HBO Max; the sequel appears on Globoplay and on Telecine inside Prime Video. The site has already detailed the catalogue in the guide “Tropa de Elite: Where to Watch Both Films Online”, with rental and purchase prices.

Pimentel’s revelation adds a human layer to a film usually remembered for its catchphrases and its violence. It shows that the cast of a classic is also made of what did not happen: the actor who said no, the recommendation that did not stick, the week of training that never became a character. And that the dimension of a project is rarely visible at the moment of the invitation.

Readers who want to rewatch the franchise may want to pay closer attention to Colonel Otávio: it is the role Felipe Camargo almost played, and the one Marcello Escorel turned into one of the most uncomfortable figures in recent Brazilian cinema. The Films section gathers other backstage stories, reviews and streaming guides.

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